Mount Dora Library May Join County

MOUNT DORA — The board of the Mount Dora Library recommended Friday that the city library join the Lake County Library System.

If the city council votes at Tuesday's meeting to accept the board's recommendation, all residents of Lake County will be able to use the library at no cost.

The library also will become eligible for county and state funds offered only to libraries that are members of such a system.

The Mount Dora Library would lose income from membership fees, but more than make up the loss through state and federal funds, said board member Robert Brinson. He estimated that about $15,000 would become available through various grants and funds.

The Mount Dora Library is one of only two in the county that have not joined the countywide library system. Leesburg Public Library is the other.

The reason, said Brinson, is that residents consider their city sacred and have long been too snobbish to get together with other local libraries.

''We always considered ourselves a cut above,'' he said. ''We like to go our own way.''